* Greece, Italy and Romania the EU's lowest-ranked states
(Adds Chinese government comment)

By Michael Nienaber

BERLIN, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Turkey and China's rating on
perceived corruption has fallen steeply, according to
Transparency International (TI), and the global watchdog called
for closer international cooperation to root out graft and
abuses of power.

Transparency International issues an annual report measuring
perceptions of graft rather than actual levels given the secrecy
surrounding most corrupt dealings. It uses a scale where 100
stands for the most clean and 0 for the most corrupt.

The Berlin-based organisation published its 2014 Corruption
Perceptions Index of 175 countries on Wednesday and it showed
Turkey's record had worsened the most precipitously in 2014,
dropping by five points to 45.

A corruption scandal broke out in Turkey in late December
last year, the worst since the Islamist-rooted AK Party came to
power more than a decade ago.
Continued...